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TED launches new YouTube channel as part of education drive

The non-profit organisation TED is responsible for some of the most inspiring talks relating to technology and innovation in circulation today.

Unsurprisingly, videos of these often become viral hits within relevant communities online. But many believe TED is ignoring an important audience: youngsters.

As TED curator Chris Anderson explains, “Over the past few years…we’ve seen these talks spread over the Web and a recurring theme from people in the community has been, ‘These are great, but could you do something more for the kids?'”

In an effort to reach a younger audience, TED has announced a new initiative, TED-Ed. Given the tagline “Lessons worth sharing”, its mission is both simple and ambitious – “to capture and amplify the voices of great educators around the world”.

To do this, TED is planning to unveil a new site next month that will feature a “library of curiosity-igniting videos” produced by educators and animators as well as “powerful new learning tools.”

But for those who can’t wait, the organisation has launched a TED-Ed YouTube channel, which offers up the videos already published. These include a series of videos on Questions No One (Yet) Knows the Answers To and Inventions that Shaped History.

Needless to say, it will be exciting to see how TED-Ed evolves, and it’s reasonable to expect that it will become an important contributor to the rapidly-growing collection of educational content online.

From open courseware initiatives like the one at MIT, to exclusively digital ventures like Khan Academy, it’s hard to deny that a digital revolution is taking place in the realm of education.

But beyond education, TED-Ed is just one example of how companies and organisations are looking to reach under 18s using the internet.

Yesterday, for instance, Netflix announced that its less-than-a-year-old Just for Kids offering is being expanded to the PlayStation 3, giving children 12 and under access to content like SpongeBob and Thomas the Tank Engine.

For both commercial and non-profit entities, targeting non-adults often makes a lot of sense. It could even become crucial for many of them.

After all, today’s youth are arguably the most tech-savvy ever, and the proliferation of affordable consumer electronics, larger and larger portions of future generations will grow up using internet-connected devices.

To educate and influence those future generations, and for commercial entities, build brand loyalty, developing offerings for those under 18 could prove to be a very wise move.

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Today, a consumer internet behemoth with which Facebook has maintained a relatively friendly relationship with, Yahoo, slapped the social networking giant with a lawsuit alleging that it is infringing on 10 Yahoo patents which focus primarily on advertising, but also include, for instance, an “Online playback system with community bias.”

When it comes to the cloud, Amazon has fast become an 800 pound gorilla thanks to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Sure, it’s had some problems, but thanks to the breadth and depth of its offering, and its pricing, Amazon continues to be the go-to choice for many companies looking to put their applications in the cloud.

There are some very simple techniques that digital marketers can use to check how accessible their communications are to people with disabilities, so I was rather surprised to receive this email from Amazon:

March 15th 201214:52

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Damon Westbury is Interim MD at European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX), a joint venture founded by some of Europe’s largest TV broadcasters (including Channel 4) to address the demand for brand-safe environments and high-quality online video campaigns. Westbury joined EBX from Clear Channel and has previously held roles at Microsoft. He tells us: “After starting my […]